SENATORIAL wannabes may start filing their certificates of candidacy starting Monday, the start of the election period.           

The nationwide election gun ban also starts on Monday.          

Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials however said that most of the candidates will file their COCs shortly before or on the deadline itself.    

Despite the start of the election period, the Liberal Party (LP) has yet to resolve its party division.  

James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman, said the LP should resolve the impasse before the deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy in the May elections ends to avoid confusion among voters.

In October, the poll body, acting on a petition by Sen. Franklin Drilon, declared illegal the party election held in March, installing Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, the LP chairman, as president; and ordered the party to hold another election in November.        

That election did not push through because Drilon, despite bringing up the case to Comelec, asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order against the Comelec-supervised polls.      

In the Comelec’s ruling on the LP, Drilon was recognized as  “holdover” party president until both camps agree to conduct an election of officers. Atienza had said the Drilon bloc shunned party elections because it did not have the numbers.     

Jimenez warned that the failure to resolve the party discord would cause confusion among voters during election day.           

“If they don’t get their act together it will cause confusion. We tried to resolve it but they said it’s an internal matter,” said Jimenez.       

In the 2004 elections, the Comelec accredited the two factions of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) when the opposition split over who will represent the party in the presidential polls. The party was divided when its officials endorsed the late Fernando Poe Jr. and Sen. Panfilo Lacson both for president.        

In the Comelec’s experience during the 2001 elections, the more “serious” candidates submitted their certificates of candidacy during the last days of filing.                

Back then, it took almost a month before a “serious” candidate came out filing his candidacy. It was Juan Ponce Enrile who got elected as senator at that time.           

But before him, there were virtual unknowns such as Daniel Magtira, Bernardo Serrano, Nelson Andamo, Melchor Chavez, and the infamous Eddie Gil, who also ran for president in 2004.           

Interestingly, those who won the senatorial slots submitted their certificates of candidacy on the last day of filing.    

Jimenez doubts that there will be “surprise candidates” who will emerge during the May polls since many politicians have already sent feelers to the public ahead of the campaign period.   

The start of the election period comes as a vindication for the administration against the black propaganda campaign by the opposition, and that it should put to rest its baseless allegation that Malacañang was hatching a “no-election” plot for self-preservation, proadministration congressmen said on Sunday.      

In a joint statement, Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Eduardo Veloso of Leyte and Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino Rep. Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela welcomed the opening of the 2007 national and local election period.           

Veloso said the start of the election period with the gun ban enforcement in effect vindicated the administration from the “baseless no-el talks” being propagated by the opposition.   

For his part, Albano said the enforcement of the gun ban means “it is all systems go for the May elections.

“The start of the election period should now put to rest the no-el talks, which were being spread by government detractors to discredit President Arroyo and her allies. This is a clear proof that the no-el talks were baseless and a complete disinformation,” Albano said.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. meanwhile urged Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. to voluntarily step down and heed the overwhelming public clamor for a cleanup and revamp of the Comelec leadership.   

He also reiterated his long-standing suggestion for the appointment of a Comelec member from nominees of the political opposition similar to what the late President Ferdinand Marcos did before the Batasang Pambansa polls of 1984.      

Pimentel warned Malacañang and the Comelec not to ignore the people’s demand to restore the credibility and integrity of the poll body that were severely eroded by the “Hello Garci” and MegaPacific election automation scandals.

TWENTY-four provincial and city police commanders have been given new positions in a middle-level reorganization aimed at preventing familiarity between police officers and local officials who are running in the forthcoming May elections.

SENATORIAL wannabes may start filing their certificates of candidacy starting Monday, the start of the election period.

THE lawyer of former President Joseph Estrada said that all of the three senatorial candidates of the Nacionalista Party are almost sure of bagging the support and endorsement of the United Opposition in the May elections.

Asean-ANZ free-trade accord pushed

AUSTRALIA called on member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to fast-track the signing of the free-trade agreement between the regional bloc and Australia and New Zealand, with the view to reacing an enlarged market with a target combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$ 1 trillion by 2020.

Asean asks US, EU to be ‘flexible’ on subsidies

CEBU—Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have strongly urged key major players—the United States and the European Union— to “demonstrate flexibility” in their policies on domestic subsidies to be able to resume Doha negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO).